10 Best Movies About Serial Killers

In honor of Zodiac (read yesterdays review), I have compiled a list of the greatest movies about serial killers. I did not include any movie that may be considered a slasher/horror film. So, while movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween may be constrewed as being about serial killers, I did not include them on this list!

10. Dahmer (2002) - The movie may get a little bogged down with all the flashbacks (and even flashbacks-within-flashbacks), Dahmer is still a compelling, and terribly underrated, piece of cinema. Jeremy Renner plays the title character with the perfect amount of creepiness. It's a fascinating film that does not glamorize Dahmer nor portray him as a villain. He's merely presented as a human being.

09. Sin City (2005) - Sin City is a lot of things: beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted and pretty much one of the coolest movies in recent years. But it also presents not one but two wonderfully imagined and executed serial killers in the form of creepier than creepy cannibal Elijah Wood and child rapist Nick Stahl (as the Yellow Bastard). While none of the characters in Sin City are likeable, per say, these two are the sleaziest and creepiest.

08. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) - Based on real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, the film follows the exploits of Henry (played by Michael Rooker) in a realistic and utterly frightening way. You don't even see Henry actually killing anyone, but the movie still sends chills down your spine. This is an all around creepy, disturbing movie presented in such a cold and calculating way.

07. M (1931) - M is about the search for a child murderer in Berlin and as the story progresses, the high profile murders begin to inhabit the lives of everyone from the police to the criminals to the innocent bystanders to the accused. This film uses a lot of the tricks that would come to be considered film noir such as the use of shadows to create a dark and intense mood. Without this film, we probably wouldn't have the modern psyhological crime thrillers that top my list.

06. Manhunter (1986) - Sure, this film has fallen by the waste side because of it's relationship to the utterly masterful The Silence of the Lambs, but at the time this fiml was wonderful. The way Will goes about catching the killer is every bit as clever as Starling's methods in the latter film, if not more so. In addition, we are treated to the thoughts, the inner monologue, the frustration and the triumph of a hunter. The movie is very dated and stylised but it's still a wonderful entry into the the story of Hannibal Lector.

05. American Psycho (2000) - Maybe I'm a little bias because of my feelings for Christian Bale, but American Psycho is so much more than the exploitative slasher flick it appears to be on the surface. It's really something unique and intriguing, a brilliant, throught-provoking social commentary and thriller. The movie really requires more than one viewing in order to experience fully the surreal visual arena and to justify what we think actually happened. The masterful and perplexing ending is perhaps the best part of the film.

04. Dirty Harry (1971) - Diry Harry was widely accepted to be based on the Zodiac murders that were happening at the time and the movie has become a classic not to be missed. Clint Eastwood goes from cowboy to hit man, mountain terrain to urban metropolis. He shifts into a gear where society is run by the evil acts of people. Dirty Harry is one of the most iconic characters of all time and the film is much more about him than the "Scorpio" killer but it's still a wonderful film driven by fear and anxiety and anger and tension.

03. Psycho (1960) - Psycho may seem hokey now but at the time it was surely a terrifying film. Anthony Perkins plays the ulimate mamma's boy and avoids turning Norman Bates into a ranting, raving, drooling, murder-happy, manic characterization. Instead, his performance is subtle, creepy, cool, unsettling and utterly brilliant. From his quiet conversations with Marion Crane amidst the stuffed birds, to his weasling wimpiness when confronted by Arbogast, his performance is so exact that it chills the viewer to the bone.

02. Se7en (1995) - Zodiac isn't David Fincher's first brilliantly done serial killer flick. His first was the gothic, shocking, suspenseful, disturbing and clever Se7en, the dark tale of murder and crime the revolves around Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman's detectives who try to piece together a series of murders based on the seven deadly sins. Se7en is a step into the harsh realities of life, showing a realistic portrayal of two detectives investigation into the undescribable horrific world of murder and the darkest realms of mankind.

01. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Hannibal Lector is the greatest serial killer in the history of literature and film. Played so perfectly by Anthony Hopkins, the film is an intelligent, tightly controlled, intense character study and look into a psychotic mind. This is the kind of film that will wrap itself around you and you will likely never shake some of the key elements of the film. This movie is in a class by itself.